Oh, Silly Blogger

Google, owner and master of all things Blogspot, has decided in their infinite wisdom to disallow url links from commenters not signed into a Google account (ie, a Blogger account, for those less savvy than I ). This has set the blogging world aflutter. What’s going on now? Are they going to punish Do Follow blogs? Are they trying to prevent WordPress users from getting backlinks? Do they want more people registered with a Google account? Can they see me sitting in my underwear?

There is much head scratching and blog rearranging happening. The phrase “Googlenoia” has been officially coined (I actually really like that term). If Google wanted to really be on most folks’ minds, it’s… well, actually most people don’t really care, but those of us in “the know” know, well, something is going on. Google’s on a mission and it’s definitely not to make friends in the blogosphere.

Personally, I’ve always hated Blogger’s commenting system. For some reason it’s always difficult for me to get my comment to publish- especially if word verification is enabled. Honestly, I could read the word out, write it down, have someone else write it down, translate it to Swahili, and still not get it right the first time. I still think Blogger misses me and is out-of-control jealous because I moved to WordPress. Sorry, Blogger, but I’m not coming back, baby.

This does suck for folks that use commenting as a way to get traffic back to their own sites. I used to always say the best way to build up a good readership is to get out and mingle. Then people follow your link back and VOILA! This works well for those that hate you as well as for those that love you (People that hate you will read just to see if you mess up so they can blog all about it. Little do they know, huh? Mwahaha!). But that only happens if they can find your site. Usually they do this by clicking on the comment author name. Not anymore, at least if the comment is on a Blogger blog.

Nope. Google doesn’t want you to find Jane Doe’s blog via her comment link. They want you to have to do a search for her in their engine. Isn’t it obvious? Imagine if I were to comment on your Blogger blog and just left the name “Lizzie”. Of course you can’t find me through my link so you either pretend I don’t exist or you “google” me. Imagine a search for “Lizzie“. Hot damn, but you have to go through a lot results to find me. That means a lot of ads are served up for your perusal. And that means… Ok, there aren’t a lot of ads on page results for “Lizzie”, but that’s not the point. The point is you’re searching for me. And that’s all that matters.

Or maybe Google, in the guise of Blogger, doesn’t really want you to get any traffic. No one clicks on a name that’s not linked right? So they’re not going to go see your site and then you’re just left in limbo, wishing and worrying and wondering- until you decide to start an Ad Word campaign and BINGO! You’re so set.

There is a silver lining to this catastrophe, though. Now, when you leave a “sternly” worded comment on a Blogger blog and don’t include your URL, the blog author can’t accuse you of being an anonymous coward (as if “Joe Kewl” was actually your real name!). It’s not your fault that Google is trying to rule the world, is it? This is beneficial should you want to tell said author and all of said author’s blog-pals exactly what you think of them. Now they can’t hunt you down, point their silly bloggy fingers at you and laugh uproariously. Nor can they link to site with some nasty word that even a sailor wouldn’t say- can’t link it if they can’t find it, huh? Can’t you see the beauty in that?

Why did Google change Blogger’s comment form? Just like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, the world may never know.

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